Church kneeler with folding legs

ABSTRACT

A CHURCH KNEELER IN WHICH A KNEELING BENCH IS SUPPORTED AT THE OUTER ENDS OF PIVOTED ARMS FOR MOVEMENT TO RAISED AND LOWERED POSITIONS, THE BENCH HAVING LEGS FOLDABLE TO OCCUPY AN EXTENDED POSITION BELOW THE BENCH IN THE LOWERED POSITION THEREOF, AND MOVABLE TO AN ANGULARLY DISPLACED RETRACTED OUT-OF-THE-WAY POSITION IN THE RAISED POSITION OF THE BENCH, THE ACTUATION OF THE LEGS BEING BY MEANS OF A MOTION RESPONSIVE MECHANISM HOUSED WITHIN ONE OF THE PIVOTED ARMS AND INCLUDING A RECIPROCABLY MOUNTED TOOTHED RACK HAVING ONE END MESHED WITH A FIXED PINION AT THE PIVOTED END OF THE ARM AND ITS OTHER END MESHED WITH A ROTATABLE PINION AT THE OUTER END OF THE ARM HAVING A DRIVING CONNECTION WITH THE MOVABLE LEGS.

United States Patent 3,556,590 CHURCH KNEELER WITH FOLDING LEGS Horace E. Harris, 2916 N. Buena Vista St, Burbank, Calif. 91504 Filed July 31, 1968, Ser. No. 749,128 Int. Cl. A47c 9/12 US. Cl. 297-425 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A church kneeler in which a kneeling bench is supported at the outer ends of pivoted arms for movement to raised and lowered positions, the bench having legs foldable to occupy an extended position below the bench in the lowered position thereof, and movable to an angularly displaced retracted out-of-the-way position in the raised position of the bench, the actuation of the legs being by means of a motion responsive mechanism housed within one of the pivoted arms and including a reciprocably mounted toothed rack having one end meshed with a fixed pinion at the pivoted end of the arm and its other end meshed with a rotatable pinion at the outer end of the arm having a driving connection with the movable legs.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to the field of kneeling benches and the like.

It has heretofore been known in the United States Letters Patent No. 3,292,975, granted Dec. 20, 1966, to provide a church kneeler with foldable legs arranged to be automatically extended in the use position of the kneeler, and folded in the non-use position of the kneeler so as to be in an out-of-the-way position so as not to interfere or obstruct free passage between the church pews upon which the kneelers were mounted.

In the structure of the above mentioned patent, automatic folding movements of the leg support for the kneeler was accomplished by incorporating the leg in a substantially parallelogram linkage construction which was exposed and could very easily provide a source of possible danger and injury to the fingers of persons attempting to move the kneeler from a lowered position to a raised position.

In the present invention, the mechanism is so constructed as to conceal the motion transmitting parts which are responsive to raising and lowering movements of the kneeler to cause the legs to be automatically extended and retracted. The source of danger is thus removed, by providing swingable arms which serve as a housing for the movable parts which are actuated in response to the swinging movement of the kneeler.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to kneeling benches or kneelers such as utilized in connection with church benches or pews, and is more particularly concerned with improved means for folding the bench supporting legs in response to the movement of the kneeler from a position of use to a position of non-use.

Having the foregoing in mind, it is an object of the present invention to provide a kneeling bench or kneeler in which the legs will automatically be folded into an outof-the-way position against the underside of the bench, when the bench is moved to a position of non-use, and extended to a bench supporting position, when the bench is moved to a position of use.

A further object is to provide a kneeler of the above character in which the operative parts are so arranged that the kneeler may be safely raised and lowered without danger of injury to the person while effecting movements of the kneeler.

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A still further object is to provide a bench of the character described having a plurality of legs supported for unitary swinging movements to a bench supporting position and a folded position, by means of a motion transmitting mechanism of unique construction which is carried by one of the pivoted supporting arms of the bench, which is substantially concealed, and which is shielded against contact by the hands or fingers of a person while raising and lowering the kneeler.

It is also a further object of the invention to incorporate in the motion transmitting means, resilient cushioning means for cushioning the approach of the kneeler to its lowered and raised position limits, and which in the lowered position will oppose downward movement of the kneeler under gravitational forces.

Further objects of the invention will be brought out in the following part of the specification, wherein detailed description is for the purpose of fully disclosing the invention without placing limitations thereon BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Referring to the accompanying drawings, which are for illustrative purposes only:

FIG. 1 is a perspective rear view of a church bench or a pew having a kneeler of the type embodying the features of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary enlarged sectional view taken substantially on line 22 of FIG. 1, and wherein the kneeler is shown in full lines in a position of use, and in phantom lines in a non-use position with the legs folded;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged longitudinal section taken through one of the supporting arm structures, showing the internal mechanism therein for controlling operation of the foldable legs; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken substantially on line 4-4 of FIG. 3, showing parts of the leg actuating mechanism.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring more specifically to the drawings, for illustrative purposes, the present invention is shown as being utilized with a conventional church pew or a seat 10 of conventional construction and embodying a usual seat portion 11 and back portion 12 which extend between and are supported upon upright portions which may comprise, for example, a vertical end support 13a and intermediate vertical support 13b.

The kneeler, as generally indicated by the numeral 14, includes an elongate cushioned bench 15 which is connected adjacent its ends with rigidly connected laterally extending arm structures 16-16 which are pivotally supported at their projecting ends upon the pew supports in a manner to permit, as shown in FIG. 2, swinging movement of the bench from a position of use as shown in full lines, to a position of nonuse as shown in phantom lines. Associated with the bench 15 are a plurality of legs 17 which are operable through a mechanism, which will hereinafter be explained in detail, so as to extend downwardly below the bench 15 in the position of use as shown in FIG. 2, and upon movement of the bench to the nonuse position, will be angularly displaced so as to occupy a retracted out-of-the-way position extending generally in alignment with the arm structure, as shown in phantom lines.

In order to provide a rigid structure, the outer ends of the arm structures of each kneeler are interconnected by an elongate extruded channel member 18 having upwardly turned lateral margins 19 which terminate in inwardly directed marginal flanges 20 to provide seating surfaces for the underside of the bench structure. Centrally, the channel member has a longitudinally extending central rib 21 which provides additional strength for the channel. The ends of the channel are each secured within receiving recesses 22 of the arm structure, and are secured as by retaining screws 23 therein, as shown in FIG. 4.

The bench may be constructed in any desired conventional manner, but in the present instance it is shown as including a rigid body or back member 24 of plywood or other suitable material upon the upper surface of which there is placed a cushioning material 25, this cushioning material being retained by an outer cover 26 which is stretched over the edges of the back member and along the underside margins thereon so that the ends may preferably be disposed under the flanges 20 of the channel member at each side of the bench. The bench structure is suitably retained in assembled and mounted position by a plurality of retaining screws 27 which extend through the channel member and engage the back member 24. The arm structures 16 at the ends of the bench are of similar construction, except that the arms are fabricated as left-hand and right-hand. It is therefore believed that it will only be necessary to describe one of the arm structures, which in this case has been taken as the lefthand arm as seen in FIG. 1, and as illustrated in detail in FIG. 3. In order to disclose the interior mechanism, a closure plate 28 has been cutaway. It will be seen that the arm structure is fabricated so as to provide a hollow casing 29 which is formed at one end with a head portion arranged to mount the associated bench 15 thereon in the manner previously explained.

Referring to FIG. 4, it will be seen that the side of the housing which is opposite the open side having the cover thereon, is formed as a rigid wall 30 which provides the rigidity required for the arm structure. At the outer end of the arm and positioned centrally below the bench 15, the wall 30 is provided with a bearing recess 31 which receives an end hub portion 32 of a rotatably mounted pinion 33 formed with teeth 34. On the opposite side of the pinion teeth, the pinion is provided with an annular end or collar 35.

Between the right-hand and left-hand arm structures 16, a plurality of legs 17 are supported upon an elongate tubular member 36 which is connected to and for rotation with the pinion 33 of each arm. As shown in FIG. 2, the member 36 is of generally cylindrical construction and is provided with a thickened wall portion 37 which is formed with an outer longitudinally extending groove 38 and on its inner surface is formed with chordal straight wall portion 39. By utilizing this construction, the legs 17 can be adjustably connected with the member 36 by providing the legs at their innermost ends with an opening for receiving the member therethrough, and a keying projection 40 adapted to extend into and be movably adjustable along the groove 38. At the desired position, the leg is secured to the member 36 by means of a set screw 41 positioned in the keying projection.

Each end of the tubular member 36 is connected with the pinion 33 by means of a connector insert 42 having a cylindrical end arranged to seat within the collar 35 and be fixedly secured as by a set screw 43. The other end of the insert is conformed so as to lockingly extend into the associated end of the tubular member 36, this end of the insert having a chordal fiat surface 44 for fittingly engaging with the chordal wall 39 of the tubular member. A locking engagement is thus established so that the tubular member 36 will rotate with the pinion 33 as a unit so as to dispose the legs 17 in dilferent positions depending upon the position to which the pinion is rotated.

The arm structure 16 at its opposite end is swingably mounted upon a pivot member 45 which projects from a plate member 46 of a mounting bracket structure as generally indicated at 47, and as being secured to the intermediate support 13b as by mounting screws 48. The upper end of the bracket 47 is provided with a bumper stop 49 for limiting the raising swinging movement of the arm structure.

Mounted within the pivoted end of the arm structure is a pinion 50 which surrounds the pivot member 45 and is fixedly connected therewith by conventional means so as to be held against rotation. The pinion has peripheral teeth 51.

As best shown in FIG. 3, the housing 29 is internally constructed with end channels 52 and 53 which guidingly receive the opposite ends of a rack bar structure 54 for reciprocable movement. One end of this rack bar is formed with teeth 55 which operatively mesh with the teeth 34 of the pinion 33, while the other end of the rack bar is provided with teeth 56 which have meshed relation with the teeth 51 of the fixed pinion 50. An integrally formed projecting arm 57 extends from the rack bar into an adjacent chamber 58 in which it is free for movement during reciproca-ble movement of the rack bar. As clearly shown, the arm 57 carries oppositely extending axially aligned pins 59 and 60. The pin 59 extends into one end of a coiled compression spring 61 contained within an elongate cavity 62 and having its opposite end in abutting relation with a wall portion 63 of the housing. The pin extends into one end of a short coiled spring 64 which is supported and anchored in position so that the opposite end of the spring freely extends beyond the pin to serve as a resilient cushion by engaging an adjacent wall portion 65 within the casing, when the rack bar 54 is moved to the extent of its right limit, as shown in FIG. 3.

The rack bar 54, as shown in FIG. 3, occupies the position whch it would have when the kneeler is in a lowered position of use. It will be apparent that as the rack bar approaches this position, the spring 61 will be compressed and oppose the action of gravitational force and thus ease the movement of the bench into the position of use. The position of the pinion 33 is so arranged that in the lowered position of the 'bench, the leg 17 will project below the bench for engagement with the underlying surface and form a rigid support for the bench.

Upon movement of the bench to a raised position as shown in phantom lines in FIG. 2, the rack bar will be relatively moved towards the pivoted end of the arm structure and thus rotate the pinion 33 in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 3. This movement operates to carry the legs 17 into an angularly displaced position, as shown in phantom lines in FIG. 2, wherein the legs will be folded so as to extend substantially alongside the adjacent arm structure. It will be appreciated that in this position the legs 17 will be out-of-the-way so that they will not interfere with free passage between the pews. Also this movement of the legs during positions of change of the kneeler will be accomplished by mechanism which is entirely concealed within the arm structures, and there are no parts which would catch the fingers or hands of a person raising or lowering the kneeler device.

From the foregoing description and drawings it will be clearly evident that the delineated objects and features of the invention will be accomplished.

Various modifications may suggest them to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of my inven-v for positioning said leg in a supporting position below the bench in its use position and to a retracted angularly displaced position in the non-use position of the bench, said means including motion transmitting elements carried by said arm structure and positioned within said hollow casing.

2. A kneeler according to claim 1, wherein the means responsive to the movement of said bench includes rack and pinion elements mounted within the casing.

3. A kneeler according to claim 2, wherein the leg is swingably supported at the outermost end of the arm structure, the fixed means comprises a pivotal support at the innermost end of the arm; and means responsive to the movement of said bench includes a fixed pinion at the pivotal support, a rotatable pinion at the outer end of said arm connected with said leg, and a toothed rack supported for reciprocable movement in said casing, the teeth at one end of said rack being engaged with the fixed pinion and the teeth at the other end of said rack being engaged with the rotatable pinion.

4. In a kneeler:

(a) an elongate kneeler bench;

(b) bench supporting arm members, each of said arms at its outer end being fixedly connected with said bench and at its inner end supported for swinging movement on a fixed pivot support, whereby the bench may be selectively moved on the pivot supports to a lowered position of use and a raised position of non-use, at least one of said arm members being hollow;

(c) at least one leg supported at the outer ends of said arms for unitary movement with the bench to said lowered and raised positions, and independent swinging movements to a position extending below the bench in said lowered position and an angularly displaced retracted position in said raised position;

((1) means responsive to the selective movements of said bench for moving said leg, said means including a longitudinally reciprocable element supported on and concealed within said one of said arms.

5. A kneeler according to claim 4, wherein the reciprocable element comprises a toothed rack, and including pinion elements respectively at the inner and outer ends of said one of said arms havng toothed engagement with said rack.

6. A kneeler according to claim 4, wherein the leg is carried by a rotatably supported rod actuated through said reciprocable element.

7. A kneeler according to claim 5, wherein the pinion element at the outer end of said one of said arms is affixed to a rotatably supported rod member, said leg being carried by said rod and being rotatable therewith.

8. A kneeler according to claim 4, including means concealed within said one of said arms resiliently cushioning the movement of said reciprocable member in a direction of its movement during approach of the bench to said lowered position.

9. A kneeler according to claim 4, including means concealed within said one of said arms for cushioning the movement of said reciprocable member in a direction of its movement during approach of the bench to said raised position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,273,938 9/1966 Jacobi 297426 3,292,975 12/1966 Hahnlein 297-426 CASMIR A. NUNBERG, Primary Examiner US. 01. 11, 2.97-42g 

